While Covid-19 is now comfortably in the rearview mirror, many of the pandemic’s impacts remain. Namely, hybrid work. According to recent data from Buffer, there’s little doubt that hybrid work is growing in popularity. If you want to hire a CFO who will work a hybrid schedule, you might want to consider an outsourced CFO.
What is an Outsourced CFO?
An outsourced Chief Financial Officer (CFO)—also known as a fractional CFO—is a financial professional (or team of professionals) who advises a company on a consultancy basis regarding its finances. Outsourced CFOs can work as much or as little as needed and can provide various benefits, from basic accounting to high-level strategies.
From a founder’s perspective, the main benefit of working with an outsourced CFO is that it’s a part-time role – not full-time. For growing companies, this means that you can access all the benefits of having a CFO without paying a CFO’s salary and benefits. Given the nature of today’s job market, this type of working relationship is an attractive option for many companies.
The State of Hybrid Work
To analyze the state of the job market, Buffer surveyed 3,000 remote workers worldwide. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from this 2023 report:
- 99% of employees reported wanting to work remotely at least part of the time.
- 75% of remote workers feel connected to their colleagues, even though a majority work across time zones
- 98% of respondents would recommend remote work to a colleague.
- Flexibility is the top benefit of remote work.
The results from Buffer’s report show that remote work is still incredibly popular among workers, with nearly every single respondent admitting that they’d like a flexible schedule. However, despite this high demand for flexible work, according to Ernst & Young, only 60% of companies use a hybrid work environment.
If you’re looking to bring on a new CFO, then you have three main options.
3 Options For Bringing on a CFO
There are three main options for growing companies looking to bring on a CFO:
1.) Hiring a full-time, in-person CFO
Your first option is to hire a traditional CFO who works full-time at your office. The main benefit of this strategy is that you’ll have a single employee who’s fully dedicated to the company’s financial success. This person will also be able to grow with the company over time and help craft long-term strategies for success. However, according to Buffer’s data, requiring your CFO to arrive at the office daily could limit your talent pool, as 99% of employees desire flexibility.
2.) Hiring a full-time, hybrid CFO
The biggest difference with hiring a full-time, hybrid CFO is that you’d allow them to work from anywhere in the world. On one hand, this will help you expand your talent pool since your CFO would not have to live in your immediate area. But this also means that you will be paying a full-time salary and benefits to someone who may not be fully available throughout the day.
3.) Hiring an outsourced CFO
If you’re considering hiring a hybrid, full-time CFO, then you’ll also want to explore outsourced CFO services. Outsourced CFOs can achieve the same level of productivity as a hybrid CFO for just a fraction of the cost. This is because you can hire fractional CFOs in a limited capacity, depending on what makes sense for your needs. Then, as your company grows, you can ramp up your outsourced CFO.
.svg){kind=logo}
